MRI Results from 1-year-post surgery

We just got back from our trip over to Vancouver, to BC Children's Hospital, for Jaymi's 1-yr-post-surgery MRI, as well as an ophthalmology appointment and a follow-up with her neurosurgeon.

We made the trip lots of fun, including two ferry rides,  a Brownie event that happened to be the day before Jaymi's MRI (at the border of the US and Canada with thousands of other girls),

 
learning how to geocache together (the three of us),

Dairy Queen,

lots of hotel fun,

and a trip to the aquarium (thanks to the Granna, who got us free passes last year, and also paid for a gift for Jaymi in the gift shop).

Jaymi did fine, as she always does.  She thinks the trips to Vancouver are fantastic, including the MRI experience, for the following reasons:
#1 - she is asleep for the MRI
#2 - she gets a popsicle afterwards
#3 - they blow bubbles while putting in the IV
#4 - the IV doesn't hurt because her hand is numbed first
#5 - she gets a ferry ride to get there and back

Unfortunately, the results weren't what we had hoped for.

The MRI showed some re-growth.  Not a lot, as this is a slow-growing tumour, but enough that we cannot wait a full year for her next MRI.  We have to go back in December of this year.
As of right now, I guess the tumour isn't causing any problems, which explains why Jaymi has no symptoms at all.  She is completely fine!  So, in December, the doctor says that if the tumour stops growing, they do nothing, and MRI again a year from December.  If it keeps growing, at some point, they would have to go back in and do more surgery.  And of course, there is always the possibility that it will begin to shrink again.  That, obviously, is what we are praying for.

So....not the results we were wanting, but like I said, Jaymi is totally fine right now.  She is 1 week away from finishing Gr.2 and is looking forward to a summer full of fun!

Asking for your help

My family has a favour to ask of you.

As most of you know, our 7-yr-old daughter Jaymi was suddenly diagnosed last June, with a large brain tumour and we had to fly to BC Children's Hospital, for
immediate surgery.  She was operated on, by one of the best
neurosurgeons, Dr. Paul Steinbok, and David Andersen, and was taken very
good care of, by all of the staff and nurses on the neurosurgery ward.
The hospital staff were so great with her, from the nurses
who took the time to 'attach' an EVD to her stuffie, to match the one
she had coming out of her own head, to the Child Life workers and
physiotherapists who visited her to make sure she didn't give up after
surgery (she got very sad and discouraged afterwards), to the wonderful,
talented doctors who made sat and talked to us with no rush at all,
showing us the images on the computer and explaining in detail what they
were going to do in surgery.

So many of you also helped all of us, by sending cards, balloons,
emails, and stuffies for Jaymi, by supporting and being there for us, by
praying your very hardest for Jaymi, and by visiting her when she needed
it.  I still haven't properly thanked all of you for that.

We are hosting a Jeans Day event THIS THURSDAY to raise money for the BC Children's Hospital.
Our hope is to be able to walk into the BC Children's Hospital Foundation after the event is finished, along with Jaymi, and present them with a large cheque.
We need to thank them and help them out.  It means so much to all of us that we have a specialized hospital for children, and to be able to thank them in this way, is so important.

I have set up an online page for those of you who do not live in B.C., so that you can donate online. 
Here is the link:
https://secure.bcchf.ca/JeansDay/main.cfm?Jeans=3152
You can donate online with a credit card (securely) and they will email you a tax receipt right away.  You can list it as a regular donation (instead of for a button or lapel pin - since I won't be mailing out buttons or pins).

Please pass along the website link and the information about our event, to all of your friends and family.  Every bit counts!